On Writing

The jester has been around since ancient times. In the Middle Ages jesters used to amuse the aristocracy with their quick-witted, cutting humour. They had a privileged position that allowed them to insult and openly criticise the elite and their extravagant lifestyle (something that would surely have landed any other social commentator in a dungeon). Not only was this behaviour accepted; it was expected as part of their role, and it was respected, too.

Alison Croggon is one of Australia’s best-known theatre critics, as well as a poet, playwright, fantasy novelist and librettist. She spoke with us about where she writes and what the life of a theatre reviewer is really like.

In some writers’ residencies, the duties of the resident writer may include appearing at local writers’ groups. In one such a group I attended, a writer read weekly from her novel-in-progress. On my first visit, she explained that the chapter she was reading introduces a pivotal plot twist where a protagonist reveals a shameful secret during a family dinner. However, it took two more weeks of reading instalments until we were finally let into the secret. Meantime, the dinner went on and on. For three weeks we listened to conversations about football and weather, and numerous requests to...

“Why do I write?” is a question I have asked myself more than once, particularly when I receive publishers’ rejections, or hear about some friend’s obscene corporate salary, or when I am paralyzed by fear before starting a new project, or lose faith in the work-in-progress I’ve been slaving over for some years, or when my pile of research notes reaches the height of Mount Everest – in absolute disproportion to the manuscript’s word count. In short, I often question my choice of dedicating my life to writing.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and, as Tolstoy said in Anna Karenina, ‘There are as many kinds of love as there are hearts.’

Kate Belle, successful erotic fiction writer, believes that one person’s crude is another’s glory when it comes to writing about sex. We ask her what it’s like writing erotica, and – despite its recent boom in popularity – why so many people don’t respect it.

Children's book author Hazel Edwards talks about the use of new media in writing for children.

Hazel writes quirky, thought-provoking fiction and fact for adults and children, across varied media. Known for ‘There’s a Hippopotamus on our Roof Eating Cake’ and ‘Authorpreneurship’, Hazel’s 200 books have been translated into 10 languages.

In your memoir Too Afraid to Cry, the narrator doesn’t use her voice, she keeps silent about things. How did you find your voice as a person and as a writer?

As children, we were raised on a farm. We would be seen and not heard. We knew we were adopted, but we never really talked about it. So, for most of my life I guess I never really thought I had a voice, or a right to voice an opinion, and you just sort of dealt with things without saying anything and I think that was a bit of a rural, Australian tactic as well – that you just sort of copped it sweet.

I came across the transcripts, or “minutes of evidence”, of the 1881 Inquiry into the Coranderrk Aboriginal reserve 11 years ago. I stumbled upon them while studying in the archives at the University of Melbourne, doing preliminary research for a PhD in history. As I worked my way through the 141-page transcript over the summer I became captivated by the voices it contains. I became deeply inspired by the Coranderrk people, black and white, and the collaboration they had forged 150 years ago, which still strikes me as one of the most remarkable stories I’ve ever encountered.

Mentorships at Writers Victoria

Entries are now open for The Ada Cambridge Writing Prizes (The Adas). For the first time, submissions for prose and poetry are open to all writers who live in Victoria. The Young Ada Short Story Prize remains open to 14-18-year-olds, who live, study or work in Melbourne’s western suburbs. Winners...